Time management skills outlined in Markham author's book

Richmond Hill Liberal

As the new year starts, many of us focus on resolutions and how to make our lives fuller. One local business coach, Douglas Stewart, has penned a manifesto of sorts, What's Time to a Pig? (Vantic Consulting Inc.), guiding the reader on how to declutter lives and leave more room for the priorities.

Mr. Stewart has been what he dubs an "executive effectiveness coach" for fifteen years, coaching Fortune 500 executives, helping them achieve their goals, controlling distractions and enhancing their work strategy.

He describes his personal coaching field as working with people who want fewer e-mails, meetings and interruptions and more control over their clutter and more time to focus on getting the important things done.

"Those of us who take charge of even a small part of our lives achieve enormous satisfaction and fulfillment," says the Markham resident. The problem is that most don't know how to set targets. "Much of the reason is that we allow the urgent to always take priority over the important."

For example, we spend 15 per cent of our time looking for things - about six weeks per year, according to Mr. Stewart.

One thing to avoid are the ubiquitous 'post it notes' on your computer screen. This is a form of "memory abuse", he says.

"It is distracting, stressful, reduces focus and creates a reactive, rather than proactive, work environment. Use your filing systems, task list and calendar system to determine what has to be done and when ... Filing is about retrieval, not storage."

Though post-its are a small problem, it might be a red flag for a larger problem Â­- how most of us feel overwhelmed by the volume of information thrown our way.

"We need to be very proactive in controlling those things that are not related to our goals. We need to close our door, work from home, find an empty meeting room or do something to eliminate distractions so that we can focus on what is important."

Not being able to do that, he says, means that sometimes people go home at the end of the day feeling as though they have accomplished very little, resulting in low sense of achievement, higher stress and negative morale.

"I think all of us have days when we feel that we have been dragged away from what we intended to do by meetings, interruptions and so on. If we allow this to happen on an ongoing basis we will feel frustration, because we have been unable to get the things done we should."

Sometimes these task distractions tend to be the very excuses people use in order to procrastinate, he says, resulting in putting off the priorities.

"Many people tell me they work best under the pressure of a deadline. The anxiety that occurs from an impending deadline can be the only way that some people get motivated to act. This can be very debilitating, however, and can affect the way we work with others. We all know those people who we have to bug and chase to get things done that we are waiting for. Leaving things to the last minute also reduces creativity. If we leave something to the last minute we will not have time to inject creativity, innovation or quality."

Mr. Stewart says that to avoid the clutters of life and the things that drag your time away, one phrase sums it up: "act on it now" - and in doing so, the to-do pile will be smaller and you will be able to focus on the important things.

7 HABITS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT

1. Establish clear goals for what you want to accomplish.

2. Expect to fail.

3. Be persistent. Don't give up.

4. Keep trying different ways to achieve your goals, until you find the one that works for you.